Characterization of Waste Tire Incineration in a Prototype Vortexing Fluidized Bed Combustor

Abstract

Abstract To investigate the characteristics of incinerating waste tires in a prototype vortexing fluidized bed combustor, performance tests were conducted with two sizes of waste tire fragments. The results from the combustion experiments showed that increasing the tire particle size caused less of the volatiles to be burned in the freeboard and thus lowered freeboard temperature. Uniform bed temperature could also be achieved by increasing the size of the tire particles. Variations in the secondary and tertiary air rates simultaneously affected the swirling intensity and the axial gas velocity in the freeboard, and thus resulted in the variations in ash elutriation, combustion efficiency, and pollutant emissions from the combustion system.